Windfields
__FORCETOC__ How the Windfields name came to be: "The Taylors had to give a name to their new residence and the lands surrounding it. Edward himself couldn't come up with one, so he offered a price of $100 to any of his friends who could come up with an appealing name. The contest had many entries, but none of them was acceptable to Taylor. Finally, on a bright, gusty fall day when the young couple were walking across their land, talking about it and the new buildings and the possibility of acquiring more land to the east and north, Winnie complained that in the fields it was rather windy. It was then that she came up with the name—Windfields. Edward agreed, and from that moment the land was known as Windfields, a name that has now become a legend in horseracing and horse breeding throughout the world. But Winnie Taylor claims she was never given her $100 price." "E. P. Taylor" by Richard Rohmer, pages 299-300 Yes, Janice, they had cows "Taylor's absences were difficult for the family. Winnie wanted to be with her husband in Washington, but she had the three children to take care of. Charles was at Upper Canada and the girls were at Havergal. "My wife would drive ten or twelve people to school every day in the station-wagon and go and get them in the afternoon." At Windfields, she kept chickens and cows and even took to churning butter." The sale of Windfields "The next 1968 move was the sale of Windfields Farm's Toronto land. Municipal roads, sewer, water, and other services had long been built past the boundaries of the property and the Borough of North York had designated the land for residential purposes, mostly single family houses. Much of the area surrounding the farm had been developed and the pressure from eager buyers was mounting. Taylor was most reluctant to give up Windfields Farm, recognized as one of the top racehorse breeding facilities in the world. But he had the National Stud Farm in Oshawa, and his Maryland operation was expanding and successful. It was time to sell and Taylor was in the selling mood. He let it be known that 330 Windfields acres would be sold. For the time being, he would retain sixty acres, which included the Taylor home on Bayview Avenue. There were twelve bidders, the top one being Morenish Land Developments Limited, a United Kingdom-financed firm, which paid $13.7 million. Taylor would have four years in which to phase out his breeding operation on the land, then possession would go to the buyer. Today, the rolling, open farmlands where Northern Dancer, Flaming Page, and other famed Taylor horses roamed, are filled with expensive houses, and the magnificent stables that housed them are gone. The Windfields Farm horse breeding operations, tops in the thoroughbred world today, were gradually transferred to the National Stud Farm, which Taylor renamed Windfields Farm when the sale to Morenish was completed. In the fall of 1968, the Taylors made a gift to the Borough of North York worth approximately $4 million. Thirty acres of the balance of the Windfields land, including a ravine along the Wilket Creek which runs through the property, was donated as a park." In the News Photo Gallery Windfields - E P Taylors Stables 1952Official City of Toronto Archive http://gencat.eloquent-systems.com/toronto.html References